Hardwired... to Self-Destruct

Untitled

Hardwired... to Self-Destruct is the upcoming tenth studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica. It will be released as a double album on November 18, 2016 by the group's independent label Blackened Recordings. It will be Metallica's first studio album in eight years since Death Magnetic (2008), marking the longest gap between two studio albums in the band's career. It will also be the first studio album by the band not to feature songwriting contributions from Kirk Hammett since he joined the band in 1983.

Background

In October 2011, bassist Robert Trujillo said that the band had returned to the studio to begin writing new material. He said: "The writing process for the new Metallica album has begun. We've been in the studio with Rick Rubin, working on a couple of things, and we're going to be recording during most of next year". In an interview with Classic Rock on January 8, 2013, Lars Ulrich said regarding the album, "What we're doing now certainly sounds like a continuation [of Death Magnetic]". He also said, "I love Rick [Rubin]. We all love Rick. We're in touch with Rick constantly. We'll see where it goes. It would stun me if the record came out in 2013". In a July 2013 interview, Ulrich told Ultimate Guitar, "2014 will be all about making a new Metallica record"; he said the album would most likely be released during 2015. Trujillo and Kirk Hammett later confirmed the band's intention to enter the studio.

In March 2014, Metallica began a tour called "Metallica By Request", in which fans requested songs for the band to perform, and a new song, titled "Lords of Summer", was written for the concerts and released as a "first take" demo in March 2014. A Black Friday exclusive single featuring the "First Pass Version" and a live version limited to 4,000 copies was released later that year on vinyl. In March 2015, Ulrich told Rolling Stone that twenty songs had been written for the album, and that he hoped some of them could be played at their shows later in the year. In October 2015, the band unveiled a new website with an introduction from Ulrich containing footage from the studio of the band working on new material. In November, Hammett said that the album was expected to be released in late 2016 or early 2017.

On February 6, 2016, during their "The Night Before" show at AT&T Park prior to Super Bowl 50, James Hetfield said that the band was nearing the end of the recording process, and Ulrich said that the album would be released soon. Ulrich further elaborated in March 2016 when he said that the band hoped to finish production of the album during the spring. "I think [2016] will be a pretty in-your-face year, at least the back half of it... hopefully we should be able to knock that on the head (finishing the album) this spring, I would guess". In March 2016, Hammett said that the band had worked with Greg Fidelman, who engineered and mixed Death Magnetic, as producer on the new album. "The title 'producer' itself is a bit ambiguous. It differs from person to person. You can call Rick Rubin a producer, but he's not the [same] type of producer as Bob Rock, who is there for every note. At the same time, Rick Rubin gets stuff done. Greg Fidelman is a different type of producer in that he's with the engineer always looking to try and move the project forward.

In April 2016, during the week leading up to Record Store Day, for which the band was its ambassador for 2016, Ulrich told Billboard that the band's expanded role within the music industry had played a part in the amount of time that it had taken to write and record the album. "The way we do things now is very different than the way we did things back in the days of Kill 'Em All and Ride the Lightning. Nowadays we like to do so many different things." Ulrich was also optimistic that production of the album had almost reached its completion. "Unless something radical happens it would be difficult for me to believe that it won't come out in 2016". In May 2016, Ulrich said in an interview with Metal Forces that the album would be released in the summer of 2016, and that details for the new album would be finalized in the next month. "If the record doesn't come out this year then it won't be because it’s not done... it will be because there's some sort of cosmic reason that it would be smarter to hold onto it until next year. But the record will be done this summer". Recording of the album was completed in June 2016 once the recording for the song "Hardwired" was finished.

Hardwired... to Self-Destruct marks the first studio album by the band not to feature songwriting contributions from Hammett since he joined the band in 1983 prior to the recording of Kill 'Em All. In 2014, Hammett had lost his phone at Copenhagen airport, which contained almost 250 riff ideas. Since Hammett did not back up the data, it affected his creative input for the new album and he "had to start at zero again while [Hetfield and Ulrich] had material for songs".

Release

In a live Facebook event on August 18, 2016, Lars Ulrich said the album would be released in November 2016, and would contain twelve tracks. According to the announcement on the band's website, the CD version of the album would contain two discs with six tracks each, and that the album would contain over eighty minutes of new music. Metallica released the first single from the album, "Hardwired", that same day; those who pre-ordered the album through the band's official website received an instant download of the song. The album artwork, created by Herring & Herring, and the music video for "Hardwired" were also released. On September 15, 2016, the band announced that they had updated the tracklist for the deluxe edition of the album. In place of the thirteen "Riff Origins" songs that the band had initially included on the third disc, the band included "Ronnie Rising Medley", which the band had recorded for the Ronnie James Dio tribute album Ronnie James Dio – This Is Your Life in 2014, covers of Deep Purple's "When a Blind Man Cries" and Iron Maiden's "Remember Tomorrow", and remastered versions of the nine songs performed live at Record Store Day on April 16, 2016, along with a live version of "Hardwired". On September 26, 2016, the band released the second single from the album, "Moth Into Flame", along with a music video. The album's third single, "Atlas, Rise!", was released on October 31, 2016, with a music video composed of footage from the album's recording process. Ulrich also told The Straits Times that same day that the band would be filming music videos for all twelve tracks on the album, using YouTube as their platform. "Now that YouTube is the world's biggest television station, we figured we may as well knock a video out for every song... the practicality of shooting twelve music videos is kind of crazy, especially when you're trying to promote your record, and you're all over the place, and trying to make sure it doesn't leak. It's crazy but, at the same time, fun".

On November 12, 2016, six days before the album's November 18 release date, the standard version of the album was leaked onto torrent sites; the leak consisted of MP3 files with a bit rate of 128kbps, and certain versions that claimed to be of higher quality turned out to be upsampled versions.

Track listing

All lyrics by James Hetfield, all music as indicated

Disc one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Hardwired"	James Hetfield Lars Ulrich	3:09
2.	"Atlas, Rise!"	Hetfield Ulrich	6:31
3.	"Now That We're Dead"	Hetfield Ulrich	6:59
4.	"Moth Into Flame"	Hetfield Ulrich	5:50
5.	"Dream No More"	Hetfield Ulrich	6:29
6.	"Halo on Fire"	Hetfield Ulrich	8:15
Total length:			37:13

Disc two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Confusion"	Hetfield Ulrich	6:41
2.	"ManUNkind"	Hetfield Ulrich Robert Trujillo	6:55
3.	"Here Comes Revenge"	Hetfield Ulrich	7:17
4.	"Am I Savage?"	Hetfield Ulrich	6:29
5.	"Murder One"	Hetfield Ulrich	5:45
6.	"Spit Out the Bone"	Hetfield Ulrich	7:09
Total length:			40:16

Disc three

Tracks 5–13 were recorded live at Rasputin Music in Berkeley, California on April 16, 2016, for Record Store Day. Track 14 was recorded live at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota on August 20, 2016.

Deluxe edition

No.	Title	Music	Length
1.	"Lords of Summer"	Hetfield Ulrich Trujillo	7:10
2.	"Ronnie Rising Medley"	Ronnie James Dio Ritchie Blackmore Cozy Powell	9:03
3.	"When a Blind Man Cries" (Deep Purple cover)	Ritchie Blackmore Ian Gillan Roger Glover Jon Lord Ian Paice	4:35
4.	"Remember Tomorrow" (Iron Maiden cover)	Steve Harris Paul Di'Anno	5:50
5.	"Helpless" (live)	Sean Harris Brian Tatler	3:08
6.	"Hit the Lights" (live)	Hetfield Ulrich	4:06
7.	"The Four Horsemen" (live)	Hetfield Ulrich Dave Mustaine	5:19
8.	"Ride the Lightning" (live)	Hetfield Ulrich Mustaine Cliff Burton	6:56
9.	"Fade to Black" (live)	Hetfield Ulrich Burton Kirk Hammett	7:24
10.	"Jump in the Fire" (live)	Hetfield Ulrich Mustaine	5:13
11.	"For Whom the Bell Tolls" (live)	Hetfield Ulrich Burton	4:32
12.	"Creeping Death" (live)	Hetfield Ulrich Burton Hammett	6:43
13.	"Metal Militia" (live)	Hetfield Ulrich Mustaine	6:07
14.	"Hardwired" (live)	Hetfield Ulrich	3:30
Total length:			79:37

Personnel

Metallica

• James Hetfield – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, production
• Kirk Hammett – lead guitar
• Robert Trujillo – bass
• Lars Ulrich – drums, production

Technical personnel

• Greg Fidelman – production, mixing, recording